This Map Reveals the Highest-Paying Job in Every State

Pull up a map of the highest-paying jobs across America, and one pattern takes over almost immediately. A new analysis by Business Insider using May 2025 Bureau of Labor Statistics data found that healthcare roles dominated the top earnings slot in half of all U.S. states. The data only counted jobs with at least 1,000 workers and verified wage figures, making the results a reliable snapshot of where real money concentrates across the country.

This article was created with the assistance of AI and reviewed by our editorial team for accuracy and clarity.

Chief Executives Led 14 States But Medicine Still Owned the Map

The single most common top-earning title across states was not a doctor. Chief executives claimed the highest average wages in 14 states under Business Insider’s methodology, which required at least 1,000 employees per occupation and excluded catch-all job categories. But that lead tells only part of the story. Healthcare roles collectively dominated the other half of the country, spreading across dozens of specialties and states. No single medical title matched the chief executive count, but medicine as a whole left corporate America behind.

Family Medicine Physicians Topped 7 States, More Than Any Other Medical Role

Among healthcare titles, family medicine physicians led the most states, coming in as the highest-paying job in seven of them. The role’s reach reflects its scale: unlike surgical subspecialties, family medicine employs thousands of practitioners in most states, clearing the 1,000-employee threshold Business Insider required. The average wages for family physicians vary by state but consistently land well into the six figures. It is one of the most common medical degrees in the country, and in seven states, also the most lucrative tracked job.

Radiologists Were Pennsylvania’s Top Earners Under the 1,000-Employee Threshold

In Pennsylvania, the highest-paying job meeting Business Insider’s criteria was radiologist. The role requires years of specialized training beyond medical school and commands some of the highest wages in medicine. Pennsylvania’s result reflects a broader dynamic: states with large hospital systems and academic medical centers tend to have enough radiologists on staff to clear the 1,000-employee floor, bringing a high-paying but relatively rare specialty into the rankings. Not every state’s radiologist workforce is large enough to qualify under the same standard.

Cardiologists Topped Georgia, New York, and Texas in the Same Analysis

Three of the most populous states in the country shared the same answer at the top of their earnings lists. Cardiologists were the highest-paying role meeting Business Insider’s criteria in Georgia, New York, and Texas. Heart specialists consistently rank among the highest-compensated workers in medicine nationally, with average wages clearing $600,000 in multiple states according to broader BLS data. Their presence at the top of three major states signals both high demand and a workforce concentrated enough in large states to clear the employment threshold.

The Methodology Excluded Catch-All Titles Which Reshaped Every State’s Result

Business Insider’s rankings depended on a deliberate filtering decision. The analysis excluded broad occupational categories like “physicians, all other” that the BLS uses to group doctors not listed separately. It also required specific average annual wage estimates, not just employment ranges. Those two filters removed many of the highest-earning titles from consideration in states where the workforce was too small or too loosely categorized to produce a clean data point. What remained was a map built on verifiable, specific, large-scale jobs.

Financial Managers Led Several States and Are Projected to Add 128,800 Jobs by 2034

Not every top earner on the map wore a stethoscope. Financial managers claimed the highest-paying slot in a handful of states under Business Insider’s criteria. The role also carries one of the stronger long-term outlooks of any title on the map: national employment for financial managers is projected to grow by 128,800 positions between 2024 and 2034. That combination of high current wages and strong projected demand makes financial management one of the few non-medical paths that appears on the map and in future hiring forecasts.

Postsecondary Health Teachers Topped Arkansas and Mississippi With 50,100 Jobs Coming

In Arkansas and Mississippi, the highest-paying job in the analysis was postsecondary health specialties teacher, a role responsible for training the next generation of medical professionals. It is a title that sits at the intersection of healthcare and education, drawing salaries that reflect both fields’ premium on expertise. Nationally, the occupation is projected to add 50,100 jobs through 2034, according to BLS projections. Most medical roles on the map carry no such growth forecast, making this one of the few healthcare-adjacent titles with expansion built into its outlook.

Healthcare Carried the Entire U.S. Job Market in 2025 While Other Sectors Shrank

The salary dominance of medicine is not separate from the broader economy. It is the economy. In 2025, the healthcare sector accounted for more than 100 percent of overall U.S. job growth, meaning the rest of the economy, taken together, lost jobs. Nela Richardson, chief economist at ADP, told Business Insider that the U.S. is “rapidly turning into not just a service economy, but a healthcare-driven economy.” The map of top-paying jobs by state is also a map of where the labor market itself is heading.

Half the Country’s Top-Paying Jobs Are in Healthcare, and That Share Is Growing

Business Insider’s map was built on strict criteria: verified wages, specific job titles, and at least 1,000 employees per state. Even under those constraints, healthcare roles claimed the top-earning slot in half of all U.S. states. Chief executives led in 14, family medicine physicians in seven, and specialists like cardiologists and radiologists filled in the rest. The data does not just reflect who earns the most today. It reflects a labor market that has already made its choice about which industry matters most.